Starlight
by suchasap
Summary: What if Edward hadn't been born in 1901, but in 1991 instead?
1. Chapter 1

I couldn't help but feel nervous as the car carried me closer to my destination. A small, firm hand grabbed mine and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"This will be great Bella, trust me." The pixie said with a smile that was far too contageous.

"I know Alice, I'm really excited." Which was true - a new city, my first year of university, I was thrilled.

Alice smiled, shifting her gaze to Jasper. I could see him drop his head in the slightest of nods. For some reason having him confirm my excitement made me feel better, because on top of the excitement were so many other feelings.

Jasper picked up on my change of focus, looking at me through the rear view mirror. "It's alright to be nervous, but trust me Bella, if anyone can do this, you can."

"Thanks Jasper, that means a lot." and it did, coming from him especially. "Having all of you around will make it much easier, I don't know what I'd do without you."

Alice laughed beside me. "We're family Bella! We would never send you out to do something like this on your own. Besides, it's about time we all got some higher education."

Watching the trees whiz by out the window, I let my mind wander. Never in my life would I have imagined I'd be heading off to college now. In high school I never really hand the ambition. I did well in school, I just never gave my future any thought. Looking back now, it almost made me wonder if I somehow knew a future wasn't in the cards for me.

I was filled with gratitude for the life I have - for my family, how they had saved me, taken me in, for everything they've taught me. Without them, I wouldn't be here at all. Even if I had survived, I wouldn't be the same, and going to school would never have been an option. Without them I never would have believed I could do this, that I could be something outside of what James had done to me, outside of what he had made me.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Alice beside me, her small frame practically vibrating with excitement. "Look Bella!" she exclaimed, pointing out the front window. Ahead of us I could see the city coming into view, and my excitement grew.

"Chicago, her we come!"


	2. Chapter 2

The sun was just setting as we pulled into the driveway of our new home. It was outside of the city, though not as isolated as the house in Forks had been, a huge change from the house in Alaska where we had spent the last three years. It wasn't nearly as extravagant as the other homes either, and matched many of the homes we had passed on our way through the neighbourhood. The siding was a pale green and the shutters a cream colour. I stood outside the car for a few minutes, looking it over. It had originally been a simple bungalow - possibly a starter home with three bedrooms and an unfinished basement. When Esme first set eyes on it, the owners had already raised it and finished the basement with two bedrooms and a large living space. In the months since then an addition had been built on one side giving us three more rooms. It wasn't huge, but would give us each plenty of space for all of our various interests as well as some privacy as needed. Esme had done a wonderful job ensuring it would blend in with the other houses - it was nice, but not fancy. Something that a handful of college students could theoretically afford to buy together.

As I was looking over the house, the door opened and Emmet bounded down the stairs, Rosalie standing in the doorway shaking her head behind him as he picked me up and spun me around. "Welcome home Bella!" he laughed into my ear. "Come check it out, I got the electronics all set up, the downstairs room is a theater, you'll love it!"

Rose joined us in the driveway and promptly smacked her husband in the back of the head. "Not so loud Emmet! And I think Bella could manage getting inside if you'd just put her down first."

"Oh yeah?" Emmet looked at her and before I caught the mischievous look in his eye I was swung over his shoulder and carried up the front steps. Esme and Carlisle greeted me inside, laughing as Emmet carried me through the house, showing me different rooms as they popped into his head rather than following any logical order. There was the theater, a library, and a bedroom for each of us. In the addition was Alic's wardrobe room, which house not only her clothes but also any clothing she picked up for the rest of us for special occasions and a games room that included a pool table, air hockey and a large table for chess. Lastly, Emmet brought me to the kitchen, where I was finally put on my feet.

"Hey, it looks even better right side up!" I laughed as I looked from the kitchen into the front sitting room. "Esme, you've done an awesome job, it's beautiful, but still simple."

She smiled at me. "Well, I didn't want to go too fancy this time. Need to keep up appearances, right? I think this is the first time we've all been students and had no obvious source of income."

In no time at all everything was unpacked and we were settled in to our new home. We had a week to get settled and get to know the city before registration and classes. As often as we could, Alice and I would go into the city. Riding the train, browsing different malls, all to build my confidence being around people. The first few times I made Jasper come with us, just in case. Alice always said it was unnecessary, but I knew how quickly decisions could be made and things could change. While Alice's predictions were helpful for the stock market and the weather, with people there were always too many variables.

I could honestly say that in my three years with the Cullens I had never slipped up, never been in a dangerous position, never almost made a mistake. On the other hand, I had also been very cautious. Even after adjusting to this lifestyle I kept my distance from the world at large. The consequences of a bad choice, of a person being in the wrong place at the wrong time, were still fresh in my mind.

I was hesitant about moving to Chicago to go to school, but when Alice brought it up, I couldn't say no. While the others had all gotten degrees before, they had never gone to school all at once, as friends rather than posing as a family. I also felt they all wanted to do this for me - to give me as close to the experience I would have had as possible. I didn't get a high school graduation, or a prom, but I would get to go away to school with a group of friends at least. It made me feel so special that little things like this were important to them, made me realize we're not so far from human after all.

Time passed quickly, and we were all standing in various lines registering for classes at the University of Chicago. I found myself continuously swallowing as people swarmed around me. Staying close to Jasper and Alice, I embraced the fire in my throat. I chose to see it as proof of who I was, of the power of choice, rather than proof of the evil I could have been. Now and then Alice would smile at me, whispering words of pride too quiet for those around us to hear. I knew if I could handle this - being bumped, pressed against, run into - sitting in classes would be easy in comparison.

"Oh, Bella," Alice turned to me suddenly. "Don't forget you're using Cullen here, not Swan."

I smiled at her and nodded, grateful for the reminder. It had been long enough since I had regularly used a last name that I could have easily defaulted to Swan. As soon as I responded her face looked more relaxed and she smiled.

"Much better. I wasn't sure how you'd manage to cover the slip up, so better to just avoid it."

"Thanks Alice. Anything else I should be aware of?"

She shook her head, but something in her eyes was mischievous. "You'll figure it out. No one else gets hints." she teased.

The entire day was overwhelming, full of people and directions and forms to sign and things to see. While I had no problem understanding, processing or holding on to any of the information, that inner part of me that was still a 17 year old girl was completely caught up in the newness and excitement of the experience.

I spent the time between registration and the first day of classes pouring over my textbooks. While Esme praised me for my diligence, Emmet took every chance he could to make a crack about me being the teacher's pet.

"Careful Em, get her mad and she might not want to tutor you." Rose said to him the day before classes as I was packing my book bag.

"Nah, Bells would do anything for me." He paused a moment, then blinked "Hey wait, why would I need Bella to tutor me? She's not even a high school graduate, and I've been a senior six times!"

"Not something to brag about husband." Rosalie mumbled back flatly.

"Are you nervous Bella?" Jasper asked me quietly. I looked up at him, head titled like a confused puppy for a moment. "What," he continued, giving me a grin. "it's polite to ask, isn't it?"

We spent the rest of the night together talking, the others sharing stories of their times in University. As dawn grew closer I could barely hold in my excitement. I couldn't remember ever being excited like this over school. In my old life, it was always just what I did, something to fill the time, something that was expected. Now, it was something I was choosing, something I was working for.

I sat in the bio lab looking over the syllabus, tuning out the chatter of the students around me. I hadn't finished biology in High School thanks to James, but the course work shouldn't be too challenging, especially with a couple of doctors at the house to help me. The professor was running through basic procedures when he stopped suddenly. I looked up, a student was stumbling into the room, obviously flustered over being late. Just as I was about to turn my attention back to the papers in front of me, I caught a whiff of something in the air.


	3. Chapter 3

I heard a low hiss, only realizing it was from me when I felt the vibrating of my phone in my back pocket. I had risen to my feet, causing the people sitting closest to me to take notice. Thankfully they looked away as I answered my phone.

"Stop breathing." Alice's voice was firm and urgent. "You don't need to respond to me, just listen, I'll distract you."

It took little thought to cut off my air supply, but that did nothing to stop the venom pooling in my mouth. I gave a soft squeak as a reply to Alice, then slowly lowered myself back into my seat.

"You can do this Bella. He's a person, just like all the other people around you. Just like you."

I nodded my head, swallowing again. The liquid in my throat did nothing to ease the flames there. My eyes stayed on the object of my hunger, unable to keep the predator inside from stalking the prey. Mere seconds had passed since he had entered the room, he had no idea of the chaos he had caused, of the danger he was in.

The professor was unaware as well, gesturing toward the rows of tables, "Take a seat, please." he said gruffly before continuing where he had been cut off as Alice chirped in my ear.

"Stay sitting Bella. You can do that, you can make that choice. You can choose to sit there and not move. You can choose not to look at him,. You can choose not to give in. Make the right choices Bella." she paused her speech, the boy was moving closer, I turned my head away from him, intent on ignoring his presence. Without breathing I only had the reminder of his scent and the memory was not enough to push me over the edge.

"Good," Alice's voice came soothingly through the phone. "I'll be outside after class, we'll go hunt." With that the phone went dead. I set it on the lab table just as I heard him lower himself into the seat beside me. It was tempting to keep my head down, to not acknowledge him, but instead I turned my head to look at him. I needed to see him as a person, someone with thoughts and ideas and feelings.

"I, ah, I think they frown on using phones during class here.." he said hesitantly, looking at me. He caught me off guard, and when I didn't answer he continued, motioning to my phone. "You won't get away with it every time. It can be very distracting to everyone else too. Some people would even call it rude." I blinked, trying to decide if I had enough air to respond, when I noticed a bit of red creeping into his skin, blood rushing to the surface of his cheeks as he blushed. "Not that I think you're trying to be rude." he stammered, the blush deepening. He sat there, looking at me for a moment, as I clamped my mouth shut and swallowed hard, fighting to keep relaxed. "Or maybe you are" he muttered and looked away.

Dumbfounded, I studied him for a minute. He was tall and lean, I guessed from his build that he wasn't into sports but wasn't completely inactive either. His back had a slight slope to it, more than just the bad posture of the average American teenager. As he sat it was as if he was trying to make his tall frame as small as he could, like he was trying to be invisible.

Ah, I thought to myself, he must be shy.

He stared down at the paper in front of him, long fingers fanned out on either side of it. As I watched I could see the muscles twitching, pressure shifting from one finger to the other. The movement was minute and rhythmic, I doubted he was even aware of it.

Must play an instrument, piano I bet.

There was nothing that stood out about the way he was dressed - a plain black t-shirt and dark wash jeans - no hints to hobbies or interests, no logos or jewelry. His hair was a deep bronze colour, messy and slightly shaggy. Had this been a morning class I would have thought he had just rolled out of bed. At 1 in the afternoon it was still possible, but less likely. I could see the stubble along his jawline and his chin. My eyes moved to his neck, the fluttering of his pulse under the skin. I swallowed as I watched, entranced by the movement.

He cleared his throat and my eyes shot up to his. They were intense green, the muscles along the lower lid tensed slightly. He obviously wasn't happy to catch me staring at him like a piece of meat.

"I, ah, sorry." I stammered, looking down. I didn't have enough air to explain, and wouldn't risk taking a breath. Not like I would have explained anyway.

"Freak." I heard him say under his breath. He had no idea.

"Now, one last thing." The professor's words broke through my thoughts. "The person you are sitting with is your new lab partner. No changes, no excuses. I don't care if they're controlling or if they do nothing, all marks will be shared. Welcome to the real world."

With that, he capped his pen and tucked it into his pocket, picked up his notes and headed toward the door. By the time the students around me realized they had been dismissed I was halfway to the door. Alice was waiting outside, as promised. While doing out best to keep at human speed, Alice led me to the car.

"You can breathe now Bella." she stated flatly as we pulled onto the highway.

I blinked at her, then took a breath, suddenly aware that the burn in my throat was no worse than any other day around humans. It was present, always, but not nearly as intense as it had been. We were silent for a few minutes, and I was grateful Alice was giving me time to collect my thoughts.

"I've never smelled someone like that Alice! It was, it was incredible, like," I closed my eyes and sniffed the air as if I could catch a lingering trace of the scent. "Like cinnamon, and earth, and"

"Don't get too caught up in it." Alice cut me off. "What are you going to do Bella?"

I took a minute to think, watching the trees fly by as we reached the edge of the city.

"I guess I'm going to just have to learn to deal with it. I mean, I made it through today, why can't I make it through any other day. I'm not going to run from it, I'm not going to let one temptation change everything." I looked up at Alice as she pulled the car over, she was smiling at me.

"Good. Now, let's hunt."


End file.
